hat this had occurred
in his checkered career--a career that resembles more the vicissitudes
in the life of a hero of Spanish romance than the memoirs of a living
politician.

SANTA ANNA.

Santa Anna is a man of whom the truth has seldom been spoken; for no
man can raise himself from a humble position to be the embodiment of
all the powers of the state without creating a host of enemies; nor can
a man be long in possession of absolute authority without raising up a
tribe of flatterers. To the one, he is every thing that is shocking to
humanity; while to the other he is the perfection of all the moral
qualities. This scurrilous manner in which all political discussions
are carried on in Mexico, has always furnished a ready apology for the
suppression of liberty of speech, and for the enforcement of the
Mexican law of ostracism in turn by every party in power.

As we Americans have nothing to hope from his friendship, and nothing
to fear from the displeasure of Santa Anna, we are able to take a
correct view of his character from the records, and to affirm that he
is neither a saint, as represented by one party, nor a monster, as
represented by the other; and as greatness is a comparative term, and
goodness is often used in a comparative sense, we may also add that he
is the first of Mexican statesmen, and as good as the best of his
rivals. He has suffered unnumbered and overwhelming defeats, which have
so exhibited his recuperative talents as to attract the admiration of
foreigners. Other aspirants have risen to popular favor, and then
fallen, one after the other, and have disappeared. But Santa Anna's
falls have ever been a prelude to his rising again to a greater
elevation; and there is no point of elevation to which he has risen
from which he has not been ignominiously hurled. He is a politician
whose course reminds us of a skillful swimmer in the breakers; half the
time he rides the waves and half the time he is submerged, yet never
sinks so deep but that he rises again to the surface. When Santa Anna
is in authority the fickle multitude cry out against him, and when he
is in exile no suffering innocent can compare with him; and the books
that at such times sell best in Mexico are those that vindicate his
past career. Of such a man something must be said, and to render that
something intelligible, a brief account of the social and political
changes of his times must be rendered.

Santa Anna was born at Vera Cru